1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a retractor/pretensioner apparatus of a seatbelt for a vehicle. More particularly, it relates to a retractor/pretensioner apparatus of a seatbelt for a vehicle which enhances a rotating speed of a pinion and prevents a defect generated due to deviation of the pinion.
2. Description of Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, a seat of a vehicle is equipped with a seatbelt 1 for constraining and protecting an upper body of a passenger during an accident. The seatbelt 1 is classified into a shoulder webbing 1a for constraining the shoulder and chest of a seated person and a wrap webbing 1b for constraining the pelvis and lower body of the seated person, with respect to a buckle tongue 2.
One end of the shoulder webbing 1a is connected to a retractor/pretensioner 3, and one end of the wrap webbing 1b is connected to an anchor/pretensioner 4.
However, in the conventional apparatus, the retractor/pretensioner 3 and the anchor/pretensioner 4 are used to wind the shoulder webbing 1a and the wrap webbing 1b respectively, increasing the number of parts, and the manufacturing costs and the weight of the apparatus.
In order to compensate the disadvantages, as illustrated in FIG. 2, an apparatus for simultaneously winding a shoulder webbing 1a and a wrap webbing 1b of a seatbelt 1 with one retractor/pretensioner 10 was developed.
As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, in the retractor/pretensioner 10, one spool 12 having a cylindrical roller-like shape is rotatably installed within a housing 11 by the medium of a rotary shaft 13. A pinion 14 is integrally connected to the rotary shaft 13. A rack 15 is connected to the pinion. The rack 15 is connected to a gas generator 16. One end of the shoulder webbing 1a and one end of the wrap webbing 1b are simultaneously connected to the spool 12.
Thus, when gas is generated due to an explosion of the gas generator 16 according to a signal from an airbag ECU, the rack 15 moves along a rack guide 17 by a gas pressure and rotates the pinion 14 as illustrated in FIG. 4. As the spool 12 is rotated by the rotation of the pinion 14, the shoulder webbing 1a and the lap webbing 1b are simultaneously wound by the rotation of the spool 12, constraining a passenger with the seat belt 1.
However, because the conventional retractor/pretensioner 10 has a structure in which the pinion 14 connected to the spool 14 is rotated by the gas pressure of one gas generator 16 and a moving force of one rack 15, the rotating speeds of the pinion 14 and the spool 12 are not high, so the shoulder webbing 1a and the lap webbing 1b cannot be rapidly wound. Thus, a constraining performance of a passenger by the seat belt 1 decreases due to the disadvantage.
Further, due to a structure of allowing one rack 15 to rotate the pinion 15, when the rack 15 is operated, there is generated a phenomenon in which a load is concentrated at a portion on the pinion 14 which the rack 15 contact. Consequently, there are problems that the pinion 14 is easily separated from the rotation shaft 3 or damaged due to the eccentric load.
The items which have been described as the prior art only help understanding of the background of the present invention, but should not be construed to admit that the prior art corresponds to a technology well known to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.